Cracks in the Dam Global Warming Theory

Does anybody remember the movie “Force 10 From Navarone”? World Word II movie, Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw. At the end of the movie the good guys set an explosion in a dam, with the idea that when the dam explodes, the flooding water will take out a strategic downstream bridge. The explosion goes off, but the dam appears to be intact. Disappointed, the saboteurs are wondering what to do next when suddenly the dam begins to give way. It turns out the small blast was just enough to crack the foundation. It just took time and gravity to do the rest.

ClimateGate is the small explosive. The cracks in the dam have begun, and although the global warming mania has not collapsed overnight, it will. Time and gravity will do the job.

But in the meantime, we have our own Ed Markey, doubling down, not really concerned in the least that the core temp data has been dumped, not aware that he has been duped. From CBS News:
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Markey, the head of a House global warming committee, said during a hearing that his Republican colleagues "sit over here using a couple of e-mails to (tell us) how to deal with a catastrophic threat to our planet." And: "There is no alternative theory that the minority is proposing, other than that we know has been funded by the oil, by the coal industries that want to continue business as usual."
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Actually, there are some alternative theories: the sun is causing warming (why is that such a leap for the Democrats?), or the planet is not warming at all. Before massive energy taxes are implemented, the warming has to be proven – it’s not up to the ‘skeptics’ to prove the earth is not adhering to natural temperature variations.

The best commentary I have heard of the past few days comes from Daniel Henninger. He makes the observation that it is science that is under attack with the Global Warming group-think analysis. And I think that is why this issue has resonated along political lines – the Republicans reason with logic, we want to see the raw data. The Democrats reason with consensus – if enough people believe it is so, well then the issue must be ‘settled’. Better to just go along with the crowd than to create conflict with opposing ideas.

And that core difference carries to many other issues: healthcare ‘reform’ looks like a disaster when looked at logically. But the Democrats look at is and say ‘everyone thinks it’s a good idea, it must be a good idea’. The problem for Democrats is that a majority now think it is a very BAD idea, and I believe will make that point clear in the 2010 elections.

The war in Afghanistan is another good example. Senator Obama railed against the Bush plan to send more troops to Iraq. But when he actually has to make a policy decision based on logic, he decides to implement his own surge. It’s a move in the right direction, but it certainly makes his comments on the Iraq surge look naïve (when he was touting the Democrats consensus analysis). Many of his party peers are still searching for a clue (Frank, Markey, and Kerry to name a few).

If ClimateGate does nothing else, at least it has focused the debate on what analysis is sufficient to make sweeping policy changes. That can only help the Republicans, on a whole range of issues. The cracks in the dam are there, just wait for it.

Author: Mark